The Crucible is a story of witchcraft set in a time when vain enjoyment is forbidden and the length people will go to clear their name.

This essay will compare the play to the screenplay, it will find how the screenplay has interpreted the original play and whether it was successful in doing so.

The first act of the play, 'The Crucible', takes part in Reverend Parris' house where we are immediately presented with the beginnings of fears surrounding witchcraft. Parris, who leads his parishioners in a rigid lifestyle, is fearful that the actions of his daughter Betty and niece Abigail will have repercussions on him. During this act we are introduced to the disputes over land and dissatisfaction with Reverend Parris by his community. "Now look you, child, your punishment will come in its time. But if you trafficked with spirits in the forest I must know it now, for surely my enemies will, and they will ruin me with it."

ABIGAIL SPEARS

Reverend Samuel Parris (1653-1720)

ABIGAIL SPEARS

The dancing that took place prior to the scene is used throughout the act as a main focus. The play uses the dance to uncover revenge and petty quarrel amongst the characters.

The opening scene of the screenplay begins with a group of girls dancing naked in the woods, they are chanting and asking for their 'crushes' to love them. The original play beginning after this event only refers to it in the dialogue. This scene in the woods proves to have serious repercussions. This is because their behaviour is not what would be expected. What makes it even more serious is that they are seen Reverend Parris "And what shall I say to them? That my daughter and my niece I discovered dancing like heathen in the forest?"

Reviews of: "The Crucible: The book vs the Screenplay":

It's a well-balanced essay comparing the two formats, using a range of examples and developing a coherent argument on top of that. Little attention is paid to the different requirements of the two media, however, nor on the implications of reviving a piece that was motivated by a specific contemporary situation (and the grammar is sometimes a little shaky). Nonetheless it is clearly written and incidentally raises some of the important points of the play.

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